FERMIN LEAL/EDSOURCE TODAY

The 2022 California Stem Symposium was held in Anaheim.

FERMIN LEAL/EDSOURCE TODAY

The 2022 California Stalk Symposium was held in Anaheim.

Educators from across California met in Anaheim this calendar week to examine how lessons that involve investigating crime scenes, building solar-powered vehicles, and fifty-fifty studying the scientific discipline behind zombies tin encourage more students to pursue careers in science, technology, applied science and math.

The 2022 California STEM Symposium drew 3,100 teachers and school administrators Thursday and Fri to the Anaheim Convention Center.

Educators participated in more than 300 workshops, roundtable discussions and hands-on lessons created to assistance schools funnel more students into Stalk coursework.

"The goal hither is to inspire teachers, to take them larn new skills they can have dorsum to their classrooms," said result organizer Shelly Masur, CEO of Californians Defended to Instruction Foundation, a collaborate that works to increase professional development in Stalk and supports districts in the implementation of the Common Core Land Standards and the Side by side Generation Science Standards.

Speakers included NASA astronaut and onetime NFL actor Leland Melvin, Knatokie Ford, senior counselor for the White House Office of Science and Technology, and country Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

"The symposium allows teachers to learn practical, not theoretical, lesson plans that connect students to real-globe jobs," Torlakson said.

Increasing the number of students in STEM pathways is vital to addressing California's shortage of qualified workers, Torlakson said.

This is the third twelvemonth of the symposium, which also aims to grow the number of minority students and girls in STEM.

More than a dozen workshops focused on how schools tin reach out to more girls.

A workshop entitled "Girls Honey Robotics" discussed how teachers tin can recruit women engineers and female college students in engineering programs to serve every bit mentors in schools.

"The goal here is to inspire teachers, to have them larn new skills they can have back to their classrooms," said Shelly Masur, CEO of Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation.

One of the symposiums most popular workshops, "The STEM Behind Hollywood," examined how Stalk concepts can be integrated into popular genres, including the current zombie miracle. Jeff Lukens, a scientific discipline teacher in South Dakota, shared a lesson he uses that allows students to investigate a hypothesis that elevating pH could prevent people from becoming undead.

Other workshops centered on forensics, computer programming, astronomy and the environment.

"Making Stalk fun and interesting volition only depict more than students in," said Sharon Rodriguez, a high school science instructor from San Diego.

"As educators, information technology's now our chore to make scientific discipline cool."

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